Page 403 of Alchemised

He grinned maniacally as he said it, his face aglow with triumph.

Helena had assumed that Atreus had come because he was suspicious about Kaine’s injury, but no, this was about his mission. All his interrogations and victims had yielded no results, and so he’d turned his sights to Helena.

“You were sent here because you know something of vital importance. The High Necromancer entrusted my son to find it, but now he’s grown so concerned with the thing growing inside you, he’s forgotten that you know who the killer is. The one who bombed the banquet and the West Port Lab. Once I’ve caught them, the High Necromancer will have nothing to fear.”

The iron glowed yellow, and the bars were beginning to droop as they turned molten.

“I don’t remember,” Helena said, her blood becoming a roaring pressure in her ears as the growing heat rippled across her skin. It was getting hard to breathe. “I can’t remember anything about that. The High Reeve tried to find out, but if I ever knew it, it’s lost.”

“I don’t believe you.” Atreus stepped back and kicked the door. The drooping iron bars folded in on themselves, collapsing. As he stepped through, Helena caught sight of a charred mass crumpled on the floor.

One of the servants had tried to stop him.

Atreus forced her to fall back. With each snap of his fingers, fiery red flames materialised around him.

Atreus tilted his head. “My son is always worrying over you. Your delicate heart. One would think you were quite the exotic flower. He thinks that success comes by acting as an obedient enough slave.” Atreus shook his head. “He’s always been too terrified of failure to understand that success requires risks …”

Atreus’s voice trailed off.

Helena’s eyes darted towards the window, hoping desperately to catch sight of Amaris.

“Are you hoping he’ll come for you?” Atreus was suddenly terrifyingly close. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the window, pinning her chest against it. “My son. Do you think he’ll save you?”

Helena’s throat closed as Crowther’s thin, spider-like fingers dug into her arm, the iron window lattice biting against her skin. The sky was empty.

She was on her own.

She’d never fought a pyromancer. If she tried to fight back using her resonance, she’d give Kaine away. Atreus would immediately know who’d removed the suppression on her manacles. She’d have to go for the kill. No hesitating this time. The obsidian knife was hidden under the mattress of her bed, but the bed was on fire. The room was on fire.

Atreus pressed his face close to hers, looking up at the empty sky with her. The powdery lavender scent on his skin almost overpowered the stench of blood on his clothes.

“You’re fond of him, aren’t you? You can admit it to me. After all, he takes you for walks and keeps you so comfortable in this room, with protective servants at your beck and call. I do believe he enjoys keeping an eager creature like you around. The Holdfasts must have trained you well.”

Helena only managed to draw one ragged breath.

Crowther’s lips brushed against her ear. “My son will enjoy you far less if I’m required to burn the information out of you.”

One chance. She had one chance to catch him off guard and rip out the talisman.

“I don’t remember,” she said again, trying to gauge how fast she’d need to move, which direction to twist free.

“Maybe you just haven’t wanted to enough,” Atreus said, and before she could move, his fingers snapped.

Pain exploded across her back as her dress caught fire. Pain like a brand across her shoulders. Her knees gave out as she screamed.

There was a hiss and the fire across her shoulders vanished, but the pain didn’t stop, the heat didn’t disappear. Her mouth worked soundlessly, her vision turned white.

All she could smell was smoke and burned hair.

“That was your only warning. Don’t lie to me,” Atreus said, dragging her back onto her feet and pinning her against the window, his weight bearing down on the burns, forcing a rasping scream from her. “I don’t ordinarily move so quickly during interrogations, but I don’t have time to build your dread.” His mouth moved against her ear. “Tell me who it is, or I will hurt you exquisitely.”

“I don’t know—” she said. The words came out a half sob. “I promise I don’t.”

Atreus sighed. “Kaine will be so disappointed when he finds you.”

His fingers snapped again. Fire ran down her back like the lash of a whip.

She seized so violently that her head slammed against the window, nearly knocking her out.